China’s Underwater Surveillance Network | RealClearDefense: "A new underwater surveillance network is expected to help China's submarines get a stronger lock on targets while protecting the nation's interests along the maritime Silk Road, from the Korean peninsula to the east coast of Africa.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen announced on Friday that the military aggression of the mainland has reached new heights and that her country would increase its military spending to meet the intensifying security challenge.

"China's military activities don't only impact the situation in the Taiwan Strait, but also in all of East Asia… This is not a problem being faced alone by Taiwan," Tsai told reporters during a Friday press conference, standing on a stage adorned with two model fighter jets.

"All countries in this region who want to see peace and stability, have a consensus… and China can't ignore this, that cross-strait issues absolutely can't be resolved through military force but through peaceful means," Tsai added.

Japan’s decision to acquire and deploy U.S.-made Aegis Ashore missile defense installations on its territory has not gone over well in Russia. Tokyo decided last week to deploy two systems to defend against North Korean ballistic missile threats.According to Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the deployment would lead to a deterioration in bilateral ties between Moscow and Tokyo. Zakharova made the remarks at a weekly press briefing on Thursday.

“Actions like these are in direct contradiction to the priority of building military and political trust between Russia and Japan, and, unfortunately, will impact in a negative way on the whole atmosphere in bilateral relations, including negotiations over the peace treaty problem,” Zakharova remarked.

Bilateral ties between Japan and Russia have been on the mend since Japan joined the Group of Seven in imposing sanctions on Moscow after its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Japanese Prime Minister …

RUSSIA'S deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, today accused the US of violating a key arms treaty by selling a missile defence system to Japan."The US is deploying them (missile defence systems) at their military bases in Romania and Poland, that is near our western borders, which goes against the 1987 INF Treaty banning the deployment of such systems on the ground," Ryabkov said in a statement published on the Foreign Ministry's website.

"The fact that such complexes could now appear on Russia's eastern borders creates a situation that we cannot ignore in our military planning," said Ryabkov.

On Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the deployment of the US missile defence system would have a negative impact on relations between Tokyo and Moscow.

"We consider the step made by the Japanese side as going against efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region," Zakharova said, adding that Moscow had "deep regret…

Best of 2017: Navy Qualifies Stealthy F-35C For Combat
The Navy's stealthy carrier-launched F-35C is now moving much closer to combat readiness after conducting "carrier qualification" exercises from the USS Carl Vinson off the

Special Analysis: The Navy's 2nd Ford-Class Carrier -USS Kennedy
The 2nd US Navy Ford-Class high-tech aircraft carrier has grown 70-feet longer and is now 50-percent structurally complete with the addition of the lower stern,

The United States is preparing to shift its approach in Syria, pledging to help with the initial recovery following the collapse of the Islamic State's self-declared caliphate.U.S.-backed forces liberated the terror group’s Syrian capital of Raqqa in October. Since then, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have focused their efforts on eradicating remnants of Islamic State.

But with fewer than 1,000 IS fighters thought to be in areas under SDF control, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the time is right for what he described as “an attempt to move toward normalcy.”

“What we will be doing is shifting from what I call an offensive, terrain-seizing approach,” Mattis told Pentagon reporters Friday. “You'll see more U.S. diplomats on the ground.”

Mattis did not share a timeline for when more diplomats and other civilian personnel would arrive in Syria, and he emphasized that none of the work should be characterized as nation building. VOA has reached out to the State Department f…

During the Cold War, the French often opted to pursue their own military designs instead of buying American or Soviet assets. Part of this was due to, well, the French being French. Another reason was they pulled out of the NATO command structure in 1966, though they stayed in the alliance, because Charles de Gaulle felt the French must maintain independence.
As a consequence, France built up a very potent arms industry. The Mirage series of fighters helped Israel win the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The Exocet anti-ship missile proved itself a fearsome armament in the Falklands. Another French product, a chopper, which later saw substantial export use, was the Aérospatiale Gazelle.

The Gazelle entered service in 1973 and was quickly purchased by France, the United Kingdom, and a number of other countries. Among those other countries were Syria and Iraq, which used the helicopters in combat.

The Gazelle was retired by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, but remains i…

ROK Navy’s Future Submarine Rescue Vessel Passes Capability Test: "Republic of Korea's (ROK) Defence Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has announced that the design of the ASR-II project passed the military's required operational capability (ROC) test. ROK Navy has commissioned nine KSS-II class submarines (Type 214) as well as building the new class of large submarine, the KSS-III.

Better Buy: Raytheon (RTN) vs. General Dynamics (GD) -- The Motley Fool: "The defense industry has been rising during 2017, and political moves like the White House's support of higher military spending has made investors enthusiastic about shares of defense contractors like Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) and General Dynamics (NYSE:GD). In particular, these giants have been key players in some of the most important military hardware systems currently used by the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as military agencies across the globe.

CH-53K demonstrates dual hook jettison for first time: "For the first time, a CH-53K King Stallion performed a dual point external load and successfully demonstrated the auto-jettison capability of the aircraft, using a 5,000-pound load. The test took place Dec. 5 at Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation’s Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. Currently, there are four Engineering Development and Manufacturing Model aircraft in test and one Ground Test Vehicle; combined the aircraft have logged more than 650 flight hours.

U.S. Army strengthens allied partnerships in 2017 with joint, multinational exercises – Defence Blog: "Across the globe, the U.S. Army is strong, dependable ally and partner for many countries. This level of seamless cooperation was on strong display in 2017, as the U.S. conducted multiple training exercises and operations with its allies abroad to promote international security. Here are two of the year’s most significant, intensive exercises that strengthened the enduring partnerships between the U.S. and allied countries.
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According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais , on Wednesday, December 27, 2017, Spain will increase its military spending by more than 80 percent over the next six years. Spain has spent 0.92% for its defense budget in 2017, one of the lowest spending in the alliance, alongside Belgium and Luxembourg.

In the next few years, Spain will spend 18 billion euros for its defense budget, accounting for between 1.5 and 1.6 percent of its GDP, El Pais newspaper reported. An increase of 80% of the current defense spending of the Spanish government.

The U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that NATO partners who are not meeting the minimum percentage agreed to within the Atlantic Alliance must increase their defence spending.

The US, UK, Greece, Estonia and Poland are at or above the two per cent mark, while Mattis recently said that he hopes that four other countries will join that group within a year.

In April 2017, it was announced that Spain will acquire 348 Piranha 5 8x8 wheeled armored vehi…

This remarkable video of a Northup Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomberundergoing wing flutter testing on June 14, 1995 is fascinating for a number of reasons.All aircraft wings have a remarkable capacity for flex. But one of the most significant changes in aircraft engineering in the last three decades has been the addition of composite materials, especially carbon fibers, into aircraft structural design. In many cases these composite materials have replaced metal alloys in structural components on advanced aircraft.

The B-2 Spirit is approximately 80% composite, mostly carbon fiber. Some of the structural framework internal to the B-2, especially where the wing blends into the fuselage and the largest fuel tanks are located, is titanium and aluminum. While part of the reason for this is structural, another reason is that composites, being made up of a number of different elements, can have radar absorbent materials included in their manufacture or “lay-up” during the process of combini…

The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. contracts to develop new, lower-cost cruise missiles capable of flying in swarms to target enemy air defenses.Lockheed, the world's largest defense contractor, in a release Wednesday announced it received a five-year $110 million contract from the lab to build the "Gray Wolf."

The weapon will be designed with "networked, collaborative behaviors (swarming) to address Integrated Air Defense (IAD) system threats around the world," according to the release.

The Bethesda, Maryland-based company's "concept for the Gray Wolf missile will be an affordable, counter-IAD missile that will operate efficiently in highly contested environments," Hady Mourad, director of the Advanced Missiles Program at the company's Missiles and Fire Control division, said in the release.

"Our system is being designed to maximize modularity, allowing our customer to incorporate…

Airplane emissions are a big problem for the climate—and steadily rising. If the aviation sector were a country, it would rank seventh worldwide in carbon pollution. Experts predict that aircraft emissions, on their current trajectory, will triple by 2050 as demand for flights increases. To prevent this dire scenario, a team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with government and industry collaborators, is attempting to fundamentally redesign airplanes.

Their concept, dubbed the “double-bubble” D8, could significantly reduce aviation’s carbon footprint and improve fuel efficiency if validated in full-scale tests. It entails major changes to the standard 180-passenger Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft—for example, the fuselage has a wider, more oval shape than a conventional jet. “It’s like two bubbles [joined] side by side,” explains Alejandra Uranga, an assistant professor of aerospace and me…

Nazi Germany's 5 Most Lethal Weapons of War
The forces of Nazi Germany in World War II were some of the most formidable fielded in any war. Backed by German science, engineering and modern mass-production techniques,

Best of 2017: Air Force Sustains & Improves F-22 Stealth Coating
The Air Force is performing key maintenance on the F-22 Raptor's stealth materials while upgrading the stealth fighter with new attack weapons to include improved

For China, asymmetric warfare represents a tactic with ancient roots that has been successfully applied to the contemporary age. Asymmetric warfare, as seen from Beijing, means using one’s own strengths and capabilities to attack an enemy’s weaknesses. Doing so may involve the use of terrain, tactics, or the application of new or different technologies.Chinese military thought on asymmetric warfare draws heavily onclassical strategy. The authors ofThe Science ofMilitary Strategy 2013, a leading contemporary military tract,cite Sun Tzu’s directive fromThe Art of Warthat in order to exact many victories, one must use asymmetric means (fei duicheng)with surprising military movements. Sun Tzu cautions that an army should employ a combination of direct, normal offensive and defensive moves, and unusual, unexpected, or sudden surprising moves in order to achieve dominance on the battlefield.

Of particular concern to Chinese planners is the so-called “Taiwan scenario,” in which more powerful…

The Air Force is performing key maintenance on the F-22 Raptor's stealth materials while upgrading the stealth fighter with new attack weapons to include improved

The Air Force is performing key maintenance on the F-22 Raptor's stealth materials while upgrading the stealth fighter with new attack weapons to include improved air-to-air and air-to-surface strike technology, service officials said.

Months ago, the Air Force contracted Lockheed Martin to perform essential maintenance to the F-22's low-observable stealth coating to ensure it is equipped to manage fast-emerging threats.

The Kremlin has learned many lessons but is still fighting like the '90s Russia this month announced another draw-down from its combat operations in Syria, which began on Sept. 30, 2015. The Russian military will retain troops in the country, likely indefinitely, where it has demonstrated the capabilities of new weapons and tactics — which together show it has learned from its shortcomings in past operations.

Popular Posts of the Month

ANKARA, Turkey — A leading Turkish drone manufacturer says it developed a “mobile naval mine” that can blow up warships of all types.
The Wattozz program has been jointly undertaken by Albayrak Savunma, a drone maker, and Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey’s Black Sea region. Wattozz is named after “vatoz,” which translates to stingray.
The Wattozz features the shape of a stingray and is made of titanium and aluminium. It has two cameras fitted into the eye sockets of the “stingray” and can cruise at a maximum speed of 5.5 knots for up to 12 hours. The drone features three integrated engines.
The mobile mine is an underwater drone that can be used for surveillance or assault missions. It can carry explosives and is controlled by encrypted acoustic sound waves.
The stealthy Wattozz cruises underwater and then sticks itself under the hull of an enemy vessel with electromagnetic magnets. The explosion is controlled from a remote station. It can stay inactive on the seabed while in…

The new year will likely bring a new secretary of defense, a renewed emphasis on changing how the Pentagon buys weapons systems and a continued focus on watching technological development by the Chinese government.

C4ISRNET asked industry leaders what trends they expect to emerge in the battlefield landscape in 2019. Here’s what they said:

Accelerated acquisition
“Right now, your toaster can tell your refrigerator that it needs to order more bread, but the world’s most advanced military is still challenged to connect its huge array of systems. That’s just not sustainable. Before the military can start tackling huge technological leaps like artificial intelligence, we have to change the way we develop weapon systems. I see 2019 as the point when the DoD really starts moving away from buying proprietary, stove-piped, closed hardware systems and instead looks to the commercial software world as a model for how we develop and integrate weapon systems. Focusing on commercial-style softwar…

Carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), hypersonic weapons, and the business of cyber security dominated reader interest highlighting some of the most important technological issues facing the U.S. defense industry. By Mil & Aero staff
Of 2018's top 10 most-read articles online at Military & Aerospace electronics, two concerned shipboard UAVs, and two were about the emergence and enabling technologies for a new generation of hypersonicweapons. Rounding-out 2018's most popular Military & Aerospace Electronics articles were on topics concerning emerging market powerhouses in cyber security; vetronics and armored combat vehicles; prospects for a future supercavitating torpedo; advanced military night vision; combat aircraft avionics; and the tense military situation in the South China Sea.
Five U.S. defense contractors are among the world's top 25 cyber security and trusted computing companies, say analysts at market researcher Cybersecurity Ventures in Nort…

It is perhaps axiomatic, and thus seemingly unnecessary, to say that computers have transformed modern war. But they have in ways both large and small; they have, for example, become deeply integrated with the full range of Army operations—part of a broader convergence of domains and thus part of a pattern that has led to the development of the multi-domain battle concept. The problem, however, is that military technology training has failed to keep pace with rapidly growing capabilities.

The result is that despite expanding digital footprints, most soldiers might as well be using typewriters, analog telephones, and chalkboards when it comes to the capabilities they bring to bear in pursuit of military objectives. Despite technology’s massive potential, waiting to be harnessed by members of the most advanced fighting force the world has ever seen, soldiers without basic computer programming skills cannot automate simple tasks, integrate data sources, or effectively leverage the unendi…

U.S. Army researchers are surveying the defense industry to find companies able to develop autonomous cyber defensesfor tactical networks and communications that capitalize on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., issued a request for information (W56KGU-19-R-AUTOCYBER) on Monday for the Autonomous Cyber project. Researchers are looking for cyber technology to secure automated network decisions and defend against adaptive autonomous cyber attackers at machine speed. The Army Contracting Command is conducting this industry survey on behalf of the Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate (S&TCD). Overall, S&TCD envisions a combination of several artificial intelligence and machine learning products that deliver autonomous cyber defense capabilities. Specifically, researchers are looking for cyber and trusted computing…